Kara didn't even have time to protest before the orc woman was in range. She barely managed to raise her broadsword in time to block the overhead chop.

The moment their weapons came into contact with each other, Kara grunted as the orcs axe carried more force than she had expected. The thunderous impact caused the steel of her sword to emit a loud vibrating noise and she was forced to a knee.

Kara grit her teeth. Had she not blocked that chop, the woman would have split her head.

With a heave of effort, Kara shoved her sword forward, intending to unbalance the orc woman. Instead she just disengaged, taking a step backwards. Immediately Kara lunged forward, blade first attempting to skewer her opponent. Instead her sword was almost casually slapped aside with the flat side of her opponent's axe, causing kara to lose her footing.

Before she had the time to reset her stance, her opponent's axe had already arrived at her neck, causing Kara to freeze. The proximity of the axe blade to her neck caused the tiny hairs on her neck to stand up.

“You're slow. And kind of disappointing with your sword.”

Kara looked up into the orc womans face, seeing only derision and disappointment,

Through gritting teeth and clenching fists Kara ducked down, dodging beneath the axe head that had moved the moment she did. She laid her off hand on the flat side of her blade and attempted to bash her opponent with the considerable size of her broadsword.

Yet again, the orc woman was out of range before she had even finished her attack. The moment Karas sword came to rest, the axe was already on a straight return path to her face.

This time Kara decided to go on the offensive. While the orc woman seemed to be able to read her as if she was a novice, if Kara didn't know what she was doing, how could her opponent.

Pulsing the flame through her body, Kara let her instincts take over. Using the steel wrist guard on her left arm, Kara blocked the axe swing. Simultaneously, she pulsed the flame through her right arm, causing the veins to momentarily glow white.

With speed her opponent had not expected, Kara released a mighty diagonal slash. The orc woman had to disengage before she was cut down the middle.

This time, despite using only one hand, kara had managed to arrest the swing of her sword in time, not overextending and leaving another opening. Immediately she returned her left hand to the hilt of her sword.

Both women took a moment to evaluate each other as the battle momentarily paused.

“That's better, though still not enough to explain her interest in you.”

“Do you mean that damned Lu-”

Mid sentence the orc woman suddenly dashed forward, faster than she had before. Kara had just enough time to guard her lower body, when she noticed the feint. For a moment Kara remembered fighting against a silverwolf in the forests back home.

Instead of targeting her lower legs like kara had anticipated, the orc snapped into a two pronged attack at her upper body.

Her arms were too slow to bring up her sword in time and pulsing the flame through her body still took a moment of concentration she had no time for.

The orcs' dual axes froze again, millimeters before cutting into her body. One was pointed at the spot between her neck and shoulder, while the other was moments away from destroying her liver.

Kara grimaced. The orc was good. She  hadn't even noticed that her opponent unslung the second axe from her belt.

“I still can't see it. What's so special about you?”

The orc removed her weapons from karas vitals and took a few steps back. Once she was at a sufficient distance, she lowered herself into a strange stance. Her feet were set and her body low to the ground, ready for a lunge. One axe rested on her shoulder while the other was pointed away from Kara. The stance was strange, yet it caused goosebumps to break out on Kara's body.

“I'm going to stop holding back now, I want to see what made her choose you. Now that you're hers, I can kill you without consequence so be prepared.”

A terrifying apparition began to take shape behind the orc as her tattoos started to pulse with a red light. Moments later the apparition became fully visible, merging with the orc.

While kara reset her stance, entering into a well practiced low guard, she observed as the apparition merged with the orc. Ethereal fur sprouted on her gray skin, her muscles bulged and her face took on a bestial quality. Kara had just enough time to notice the long gray tail extending from the orcs back, when her opponent was already upon her.

Kara had no time to think about the fight. Every moment was spent trying to defend against the rabid onslaught of her opponent. Hundreds of strikes from different angles pressured her, leaving no room for a counter or any offense.

To Kara it felt like being harried by a pack of starving wolves. The axes would come from one side, only for the attack to be a feint and before she knew it, the axe cut along her arm. Cuts appeared all over Kara's body as the orc systematically pried open her defenses. Blood streamed down from dozens of different cuts that began to ache.

Despite the fact that Kara slowly but surely tightened her defense, her opponent continued to harry her. Against any normal enemy, Kara would have expected them to tire by now, but the orc kept her tempo consistent, never letting Kara rest for even a moment.

Her head began to ache as she had yet to continually use her slitted right eye for such a long time.

As a fresh spike of pain shot through her mind, Kara instinctively reached for the white flame. Almost on reflex, she pulsed it through her body, throwing her entire body weight into a diagonal upward slash.

With a thunderous clang, Karas broadsword impacted the crossed axes of her opponent, flinging the orc multiple meters backwards.

The orc came to a stop, crouched low to the ground, her axes scraping across the dirt. A savage grin spread across her face.

Kara wiped sweat from her face and for a tiny instance her vision was obscured by her wrist. As soon as her vision was free, she saw the orc already approaching again, her features more beastial than before.

Kara pulsed the flame on instinct again, Her broadsword rapidly shooting into position to block the twin axes coming down from above.

The clash had the same effect as their first one, Kara sinking to her knees as the force of the orcs' strike overwhelmed her. Despite the added power of the white flame, Kara couldn't take the orc in a contest of strength.

Kara let the axes slide along the flat side of her blade, before pulsing the flame again and launching a lightning fast sweep at the orcs head. Despite the fact that she had been unbalanced, Kara's opponent still managed to dodge beneath the strike.

As she arrested the swing, Kara gritted her teeth and launched a wild backswing which finally seemed to catch the orc off guard. Still, despite her surprise she still managed to block.

Their weapons were locked together, giving both a moment to gather themselves, despite the fact that their muscles were trying to overpower each other. Kara was already breathing heavily. Her muscles burned with exertion and she already knew that she would be sore tomorrow.

Her opponent was decidedly better off. Despite the fact that her wild style caused her to move around much more than kara, the orc was barely sweating. The only noticeable difference was the increasing number of pulses that lit up her tattoos and the increasing definition of the apparition.

Kara pulsed the flame again, momentarily overpowering the orc with a surge of strength.

Kara shoved her opponent away and now had sufficient distance to go on the offensive. Pulsing the flame through her body, Kara stomped forward, swinging her broadsword in a wide arc with another pulse.

Kara and her opponent entered into a stalemate, trading blows, parrying and counter attacking.

The longer the fight went on, the more Kara's muscles began to burn, yet she had no attention to give to the pain she was feeling. Her concentration sharpened as their fight dragged on.

Just a few days ago, Kara would have had to stop the fight as her muscles could no longer keep her upright. Yet with every pulse of searing hot white fire through her body, she managed to hold on a bit longer. The white flame washed through her body with increasing frequency, until it came in time with her heartbeat.

With every thump of her heart, fresh, oxygenated blood and a pulse of white fire flowed through her body, suffusing every strand of muscle equally. Unbeknown to Kara, the white fire left its residue not only in her physical body, but also in her blood. The leftover particles of anima were carried along by the blood, ending up inside her bones. Slowly but surely every part of Kara was suffused with anima.

The fight continued, both women exchanging rapid fire strikes, the clash of their weapons causing a lot of noise as the metal vibrated.

The sound of humming metal unraveled another string in the bundle of information in Kara's mind. Had she been completely relaxed she would have not been able to understand the knowledge that leaked from the bundle, but since her concentration was completely focused on the fight, the knowledge was absorbed by her subconscious.

The clanging of metal brought to mind the image of a massive gleaming dragon, the beat of its wings causing sharp blades of air to shoot outwards. Its tail cutting mountains in two, while its claws rent the earth.

—------------------------------------------------------

Asha observed the change in her sparring partner. The woman had entered what lady Lucifer called a “flow state”. Her gaze was at the same time focused and unfocused. She reacted almost instantly to any change in stance Asha made, but it looked like she was barely conscious.

While she had tried her best to rile her opponent up, it still wasn't truly enough for Asha to take this as seriously as she could. The woman had her fundamentals down fairly solid, but she fought with a weapon that was too heavy for her. Also, the continuous pulses of strength she used were badly timed and executed.

Asha continued to parry and pressure her opponent. The woman might be on the offensive, but at the end of the day asha was still leading the battle.

Though Asha had to give it to her, the woman's offensive was slowly but surely growing more cohesive. She used her reach better than she had at the beginning and her swordsmanship slowly turned into something more domineering.

While they continued to exchange strikes, Asha noticed a steadily growing glow emanating from her opponents muscles. Slowly, a thin sheen of white fire ignited along her body, giving her a strangely ethereal appearance.

Asha blocked an overhead strike by crossing her axes. This time it was Asha that was overwhelmed by the force of the strike, as she had to bend her knees a little to absorb the impact. The rest traveled through her body and cracked the ground around them.

For a moment, Asha looked into her opponent's face and beheld a strange sight. The woman was snarling and grunting like a beast. Not like Asha would when she got really into it, but more like the woman was losing patience.

The woman stepped forward and kicked, asha having to check the kick with her knee. The flames covering the woman pulsed once as she extended her leg.

Immediately, the woman executed a wild and unstructured swing, causing asha to throw up another block. The blades of her axes clashed with the woman's greatsword. Asha had expected to lock blades with the woman again, causing her to click her tongue in anger when the expected did not occur.

Instead the woman used the rebound of their clash to spin herself around a full rotation and come at Asha with a mighty swing.

Time seemed to slow down as she observed her opponent. From one moment to the next, the woman went from a sloppy swing, into a perfectly executed rotation and cleave. To Asha it looked like someone else was in control of the woman's body. Which, knowing Lady Lucifer, may be the case.

Asha had just enough time to hear her opponent mumble [Steel Dragon Annihilation: Army Destroyer]

Asha clicked her tongue. Power flooded through her arms and shoulders as she chanted her own technique [Serene Mind, Raging Body]

The red thirst flooded her upper body as Asha caught the woman's powerful swing between her axes. The impact forced Asha a few steps backwards, most likely due to the strange metallic aura shimmering along the sword. Still she held fast.

Once her opponent's attack was completely halted, Asha forced their interlocking weapons downward. Using her own axes as handholds she vaulted forwards and kicked her opponent in the face.

The crunch of her opponent's nose pulled Asha from her rising battle lust.

Asha landed on her feet, only to watch as her opponent crumpled to the ground. The coat of white flames covering her had winked out and she was bleeding profusely from the nose.

With a grimace, Asha let herself sink to the floor. Closing her eyes, she meditated for a moment, letting herself be guided by the man called björn whose memories she held.

After a few deep breaths Asha had the red thirst locked back up and herself under full control. Rising to her feet, she looked down at the panting woman. For a moment she wondered if she should apologize for breaking the woman's nose, but she thought better of it.

“I'll see you tomorrow then.” she said as she left the training area, leaving behind a completely exhausted and utterly confused Kara.